Refrigerator-door latch.



J. PORTESI.

REFRIGERATOR noon mow.

APPLICATION FlLED JUNE 1. i918. v

Patented May 6,1919.

' J orieziag wiwm v w y Q Mom M 0 awuawbo'c v JULIUS ron'rnsr, or LOSANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

REFRIGERATOR-DOOR LATCH.

Application filecl June 1, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JULIUs Ion'rssna citizen of the United States,residing at Los Angeles, in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia, have invented, certain new and useful Improvements inRefrigerator-Door Latches; and I do declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

My invention relates to that class of latches employed principally onthe doors of comparatively large refrigerators, such as those used inmeat markets and the like. Heretofore, most of these latches haverequired two operations of the hand in order to release them, that is anupward swing of a latch lever and then a forward pull thereof to openthe door. The object of my in vention however is to provide a latchwhich by a single pull on a handle will release the latch member andopen the door, it being thus much easier to gain access to the interiorof the ice box or the like.

With the foregoing object in view, the invention resides in the novelconstruction and arrangement of parts as hereinafter fully described andclaimed, the descriptive matter being supplemented by the accompanyingdrawing which forms a part of this application and in which:

Figure 1 ,is a side elevation section of the improved latch in position,as applied to a door;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation looking in the opposite direction from Fig. 1and i]lus trating the door partly opened;

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the latch applied; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the locking bar and the release leverfulcrumed thereon.

In the drawing above briefly described, the numeral 1 designates alocking bar adapted to be secured to and to project beyond one edge of arefrigerator door or the like D, said bar being shown as provided withan attaching plate 2 which is secured partly in operative :to the doorby means of screws, bolts or other fasteners 3. The projecting end ofthe locking bar 1 coiiperates with an L- shaped latch member 4 which islowered either by gravity or by said latch member being pivoted at 6 tothe front end of a horizontal arm 7 carried by the door frame F, saidarm preferably hav- Specification of Letters Patent.

a suitable spring 5,

Patented May 6, 1919. Serial No. 227,799.

ing an attaching plate 8 secured to the frame by screws or the like 9.It will. be observed that the entire length of one armof the L-shapedlatch member 4 and substantially the full length of the other arm ofsaid member, are bifurcated to straddle the arm 7, the solid portio;n 10of said last named arm of the latch. member resting normally on said arm7 to limit the downward swing ing of the former as will be clear fromFig. 1. This arrangement is preferablabut it will be obvious that inall-cases, it is not necessary to bifurcate the latch member.

By-the arrangement so :far described. it is simply necessary to closethe door D. whereupon the locking bar 1 will raise the latch member 4against the tension of spring 5, this spring then coming into play todepress said latch member to the operative position shown in Fig. 1. Fornow releasing the latch member when it isnecessary to open the door, abell crank lever 11 is fulcrumed at 12 between the furcations of abifurcated arm 13 which projects downwardly and forwardly from theprojecting end of the look ing bar 1, the upper end of said lever 11being designed for engagement with the latch member 4, while the otherarm of said lever is shaped to form an adequate handle. When this handleis pulled forwardly. the upper end of the lever strikes the latch member4 and consequently raises the same to released position, whereupon acontinued forward pull will open the door. In again closing the door.the handle should be released and the door forced shut by pushingthereon. The upper end of lever 11 is preferably formed with a notch 14to receive the lower edge of arm 7, thus insuring that the latch membershall be raised sufliciently to entirely release the same.

From the foregoing, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing,it will be obvious that although my invention is of extremely simple andinexpensive nature, it will be highly efficient and in every waydesirable, particular emphasis being laid upon the fact that only oneforwardpull on the handle is required to first release the latch andthen open the door. Since probably the best results are obtained fromthe several features shown and described, they are preferably followed,but within the scope of the invention as claimed, numerous minor changesmay well be made. Also, it is to be understood that the invention is notrestricted to use upon refrigerator doors but may be employed whereveradvisable.

I claim:

1. A door latch comprising a bar and means for securing it to the doorwith one end projecting beyond the free edge of the latter, a verticallymoving latch to abut the outer side of said bar end andprevent openingof the door, means for mounting said latch on the door frame, and avertically swinging latch releasing bell crank fulcrumed to saidprojecting end of said bar on an axis parallel With'said bar, said bellcrank having one of its arms extending forwardly to strike and raisesaid latch, the other arm of said bell crank depending from the fulcrumto form a handle, whereby a single forward pull on said handle willfirst release said latch and then open the door.

' 2. A door latch comprising a bar and means for securing it to the doorwith one Copies of this'patent may 'be obtained for end projectingbeyond the free edge of: the latter, a vertically moving latch adaptedto abut the outer side of said bar end to prevent opening of the door,means for mounting said latch on the door frame, an arm extendingforwardly from said project'u'lg bar end, and a vertically swinginglatch releasing bell crank fulcrumed on said arm on an axis parallelwith said bar, said bell crank L my hand.

JULIUS PORTESI. Witnesses:

KEN Y REIoHARD,

A. C. HALL,

fire" cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, 7Washington, D. C."

